Cat Skin
by CB Wyrdley
Summary: After Watanuki makes a gruesome discovery, he finds himself drawn into the mysteries surrounding a bizarre series of thefts. [Volume 5 timeframe.]
1. Chapter 1

Cat Skin

a xxxHOLiC fanfiction by Wyrdley

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Notes: PG-13 for violence and language. Release date – August 4, 2005. Part 1 edited and revised August 25, 2005. For the morbidly curious, the original draft can be found on my livejournal page. Just check my profile for the link.

Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHOLiC, but I do own any original characters that may appear in this story. Please read the original books by CLAMP, because they _rock_.

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Part 1

Kimihiro Watanuki was cleaning – this was not unusual, since he worked part-time as a housekeeper (and sometimes errand boy) for a rather eccentric fortuneteller, but it was actually on his own behalf. This morning he was cleaning out his closet, which was starting to become rather dusty.

The teenager was sixteen years old, nearly seventeen, and, while a little taller than average, possessed a rather delicate build. This was misleading, because he was a talented athlete, though he never competed outside of his daily phys ed class. Kimihiro had pale skin that burned in too much sunlight and black hair that had the unreasonable habit of standing up in cowlicks at any given time. His most remarkable feature, however, was his startling blue eyes: they were as light as a shard of ice and so large they loomed out of his face like a pair of brilliant lanterns. (The effect was somewhat diminished by the oval glasses perched on the end of his nose.) He was very good looking, if you liked pretty guys.

Fortunately, he escaped the fate of beingpopular, because Kimihiro had the habit of attracting ghosts and other supernatural undesirables to his person. The boy avoided crowds as much as he could, more to steer clear of _other_ people's horrors rather than inflicting his own on the unsuspecting. Over the years, he acquired the reputation of a very private person and his reclusive behavior had caused a number of bizarre rumors about him at school. Some were rather stupid, like the one where he was really a girl, while others were downright outlandish, like the one where he had been abducted by aliens and was too traumatized to interact with people much.

Well, a cursed hydrangea bush had swallowed him once and dropped him into the realm of the dead, so maybe that made the alien thing tame by comparison. Only a couple people knew about _that_ particular incident and he dreaded to think what would happen if more found out.

The closet was neatly organized, so it was easy for Kimihiro to stack the various boxes beside it. He carefully used his duster in the corners of the wall, and then swept the floor clean. It took all of three minutes. As he was replacing the containers back inside, however, a small shoebox fell free of the rest and landed on its side.

Kimihiro snorted in annoyance as several knick-knacks rolled away. He knelt over them and carefully examined them for damage.

"I really ought to wrap these up," he sighed, placing a miniature teapot that was missing its lid back into the box. After a second of searching, he found the errant top. "I'll have to pick up some tissue paper at the store today when I get the stuff for Yuuko-san's dinner…" A replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a jar full of stone shards labeled "amethyst," and a spool of red, metallic thread on a silver bobbin quickly followed.

Not seeing anything else, he tucked it carefully into the closet, then rubbed his hands free of dust and stood up. He had other things to do this morning before he had to leave for school.

In the corner, unnoticed, was a small, black statue.

xXx

The air was damp and a little chill as Kimihiro walked down the street towards his high school, Cross Private Academy. He shivered inside his long jacket and picked up the pace. Every now and then, he saw the faint flutter of a spirit at the edge of his vision, but they seemed to be content to leave him alone today, which he was grateful for. Outrunning an over-affectionate tentacle monster was a dismal start for a day. He turned a corner, humming softly, only to be greeted by the sight of flashing blue lights.

Kimihiro stared at the police cruiser with interest. There was only the one, which was reassuring, and it was parked in front of a small, but prosperous corner store. Unlike most days, there weren't any customers inside, so the boy wondered what could've happened. There must have been some sort of crime. The building looked a little forbidding, now that he thought about it, the welcoming vibe that it usually possessed somehow misplaced.

It was unfortunate, but it wasn't really his problem. He shook his head and continued on his way, wondering what was different. The shop didn't seem strange…

_Stop that thought right there, Watanuki,_ he chided himself. _That's how you end up getting knocked off rooftops._

The day, however, seemed to be persistent about making his life too interesting. As he crossed the entrance to an alleyway, the unmistakable _tang_ of death savagely bit his nose.

"Gah," he grumbled, pinching his nose shut. He squinted down the shadowed alleyway, trying to determine where the dead thing was. In the dim morning light, it was hard to distinguish one thing from another on the cracked pavement. After a moment, he saw the unmistakable trace of a diseased aura. It rose in sick, black tendrils from the small form of some kind of animal.

_Ah, crap. That thing is _definitely _going to rise again._ Shuddering, Kimihiro, pulled an about face and was about to make tracks when he collided face-first into a solid wall. "Ow!"

"Yo." Well, not quite a wall…

Kimihiro cringed back, his blood pressure rising. He glared at one Shizuka Doumeki, who had to be the most irritating thing under the sun. Doumeki ignored this, as he usually did, remaining where he was like a monolith, with no consideration for Kimihiro's personal space _at all_. To make Doumeki's abrupt appearance more annoying, a sweet breeze replaced the unrelenting stench. Kimihiro sneezed viciously, rubbing his abused nose.

"Catch a scent?" the tall teen asked frankly, peering with detached interest down the alley. Kimihiro ignored the other boy not-so-gently edged his way in-between himself and the entrance. _Meddler…_

"So what if I did?" Though it was kind of odd that Doumeki couldn't smell the dead thing. Actually, the reek from the body should've still been there, exorcist or not. How could a body not smell?

Kimihiro frowned at the rancid aura, not quite sure what to make of it.

Doumeki leaned back and examined Kimihiro with those baffling eyes of his. Kimihiro could never tell what the nuisance was thinking, one of the more aggravating qualities his classmate possessed. "Well?"

Kimihiro gritted his teeth and resolutely began to march down the street, away from the alley and it's bizarre victim. "It's just a dead animal of some kind. It's got a nasty aura. That's _all._" Doumeki lingered behind a moment, staring, then suddenly moved down the narrow corridor. Kimihiro stopped despite himself. "What are you doing, idiot? Do you want to bring some beast's angry ghost down on me!" he complained. Doumeki just ignored him.

After a short pause, Doumeki spoke out: "There isn't anything here. Just some trash, but nothing that looks like an animal."

Kimihiro felt his stomach lurch. He did _not_ want to pursue this… He backtracked and cautiously took a few steps towards the aura, ready to bolt. "It's on the right side, up against the wall, by that drainpipe." He pointed.

Doumeki looked at the indicated spot and frowned. "There isn't anything there."

Kimihiro stepped a little closer and waved emphatically. "Right. There." He began to recoil a bit, because the aura was more potent the closer he got to it.

"Nothing." Doumeki was glaring at the spot now, and backing away. He bumped into Kimihiro. "Let's go…"

"Oh, _now_ you're convinced that this is a _bad idea,"_ Kimihiro began to rant. The two quickly exited the alley and started to distance themselves from the site. "If that thing starts stalking me, you'll just have to starve to death, _BECAUSE I'LL BE TOO BUSY RUNNING FROM THE DAMN THING TO MAKE YOU LUNCH!"_ His strides became longer to match Doumeki's, which made him look like he was stomping.

"So I'll stay over at your place. It won't bother you when I'm around and if it tries, I'll shoot it," he said calmly.

Kimihiro could swear he felt something in his head break. There was a vein throbbing in his temple. One of these days this moron really _was_ going to cause him to have an aneurysm, he just _knew_ it… "NO, YOU WON'T!"

Doumeki winced away and poked a finger into the ear that was closer to Kimihiro's snarling mouth. "Oh, shut up." He abruptly stopped mid-step, which made Kimihiro nearly fall over trying to prevent himself from crashing into him. "What happened there?"

"Huh?" Kimihiro scowled at his surroundings. "Happened where?"

"There, moron." It was Doumeki's turn to point.

It was another police car, lights blinking. A small group of people was standing on the sidewalk in front of a small and rather dingy café, speaking to a middle-aged officer holding a clipboard. Kimihiro couldn't tell what they were saying, but they looked confused. A man in a business suit gestured energetically at the window, but Kimihiro couldn't see anything out of place.

"How should I know?" Kimihiro snapped. "Why do you automatically assume I know what's going on whenever something suspicious happens?"

"I don't. It was just a question." Doumeki began to walk again.

"I do know that this is the second place I've seen with a police car in front of it this morning, though," Kimihiro sneered. Doumeki stopped and pinned him with a stern expression.

"Spill it. Now."

"It was the same as this, jerk. Now you know as much as I—" Kimihiro suddenly gagged and nearly bent himself over double trying not to throw up. "Urgh…" The rank stink was back in his nostrils, sending a long, nauseous dagger down his throat. Doumeki caught him by the arm as he staggered.

His eyes immediately latched onto a cloud of black leaking from the grate of a gutter. This time he could clearly see the unfortunate creature that had been murdered. It had once been a cat. The body had been gutted and the spine had been bent in several directions spines, even _feline_ spines, were not meant to go. The exposed flesh had been viciously hacked into and the tail… It was just _missing…_

Kimihiro bolted down the street, a surprised Doumeki trailing him by half a pace. He just _knew_ he was going to have nightmares. He probably would've run all the way to school if the lug beside him didn't grab the back of his jacket, nearly choking him. "Stop that," Doumeki ordered. "What happened?"

Kimihiro sagged against the side of a building, trying to catch his breath. The black aura faded from him. "Another animal in the gutter. It was a cat. Something mutilated it. Skinned it, it seems." His heart was still racing.

"I didn't see anything."

"You're blind, then."

Doumeki took a second to reply. "So it's a spirit of some kind."

This was not reassuring. "Spirits don't have bodies, retard," he managed to retort weakly.

"So it's not a spirit, but it's something else. I'm going to have a look. Stay put." He dropped his schoolbag on the ground next to Kimihiro.

"Huh?" The archer, however, was already gone. Kimihiro sank to the ground and loosened his jacket at the collar. He was going to smell like sweat all day now… He turned his mind away from the cat, trying to distract himself. He started to consider what he should prepare Yuuko-san for dinner that night, but the thought of food made his stomach gurgle unappreciatively.

Doumeki returned in less than five minutes, clutching something in his hand. "Take a look at this." He held it down for Kimihiro to examine. A few remaining wisps of black melted away before his eyes and he could see what it was.

It was part of a statue. The bit of ceramic that Doumeki had collected was the remains of an upraised paw, the paint scraped completely away. The familiar beckoning motion made Kimihiro's heart squeeze. "A lucky cat?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"Uh huh," Doumeki confirmed. He took out a handkerchief and careful wrapped it up. "I'll give this to you after school. You can give it to Yuuko-san. Maybe she can explain it."

Kimihiro felt ill at the thought of carrying the thing into the wish shop, but nodded anyway.

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To be continued…

Note: A lucky cat, or _maneki neko_, is a small statue of a cat frequently found in Japanese businesses. It always has one paw upraised to help beckon in customers and money. Different colors mean different things; for example, white attracts good fortune, gold or yellow attracts prosperity and wealth, and black drives away evil.


	2. Chapter 2

Cat Skin

a xxxHOLiC fanfiction by Wyrdley

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Notes: PG-13 for violence and language. Release date – August 25, 2005. I'm sorry for being so slow with putting these out, but I have a lot going on in my life right now – good stuff, mostly, but it's been hectic.

**IMPORTANT: If you read the first part once already, please go back and read it again. It has been revised and expanded.**

Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHOLiC, but I do own any original characters that may appear in this story. Please read the original books by CLAMP, because they _rock_.

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Part 2

Kimihiro was terribly distracted in his classes that day. At lunchtime, he picked at his meal. Doumeki didn't mention the morning's events, but he rarely spoke of he and Kimihiro's misadventures whenever Himawari-chan was around.

Himawari-chan, being a kind person, was trying to cheer him up. So far, it was the only bright point of the day. He hadn't mentioned the cat thing to her either, because that wasn't the kind of talk a guy wanted to say to a girl he desperately wanted to impress.

They were eating lunch on the staircase leading to the roof of the school and she was sitting on her folding chair. "Is your stomach upset, Watanuki-kun? I have some antacids, if you want. It's not good to miss lunch when you have to work later." Her large round eyes were wide with concern and she leaned towards him, one of her long, curly ponytails falling down her chest. Kimihiro resolutely kept his eyes on her dainty chin.

"Um, I'll be fine!" he managed to chirp. He sipped his tea to prove his point. Really, he just didn't have an appetite. Peeled and maimed cats tended to make folks a bit finicky. At least, they made _him_ finicky – even if he _had_ made the food himself. The smoked salmon wrapped around his sushi was less appealing now than it had been several hours ago. It was the orangey-pink color.

Oh, great, he had managed to gross himself out again. He drooped over his bento. _I really have to stop thinking…_

"Watanuki-kun, here!" Himawari-chan tilted her head cutely and presented him with a baggie full of club crackers. "These always help me when I can't eat!"

Kimihiro couldn't help himself. A brilliant smile managed to emerge from his gloom. "Thank you! That's very nice of you!" He wasn't going to push his luck by hoping she had made them herself. He accepted one with a slight bow. "They're very tasty." He said after chewing one of the dry things in his mouth. He chased it down with a gulp of his tea, but it left a clinging sensation in his throat that made him doubt he would be able to gag anything past it.

"I'm so glad!" She smiled, her dimples showing. Kimihiro felt the lump of crackers dissolve from the force of his heart flying into his throat. He beamed at her in response.

Doumeki shot Kimihiro an indiscernible look out of the corner of his eye, then hoisted a pickle into his mouth and chomped down on it. Kimihiro thought, ungraciously, that he could at least compliment the meal the he, Kimihiro, did _not _have to make for him, but did anyway. His smile slid a bit, becoming a bit plastic.

Damn Doumeki, anyhow.

Something caught the corner of his eye and his head swiveled to follow it. It had moved near the top of the steps, but he couldn't see where it went.

Doumeki thrust his chopsticks down into the bento and caught another pickle, the chopsticks making a deliberate _clack_ as it hit the bottom of the lunchbox. He stared at Kimihiro as he stuffed the pickle into his maw. Disgusted, Kimihiro gave him half a shrug, shaking his head slightly.

It was gone and there was no telling what it could have been.

xXx

The last bell rang and Kimihiro was neatly packing away his books and papers when Doumeki unceremoniously plunked the wrapped remains of the lucky cat statue in the middle of his deskspace. "What was that thing at lunch?"

"Beats me. I might have imagined it," he grumbled. "You're so nosy."

Doumeki's face was bland. "Too bad. Let me know what Yuuko-san says." Without further words, he left the room. Kimihiro grimaced at his back.

"Bossy, too. _He's _not the one Yuuko-san is going to charge for this…" he muttered as he pulled on his gloves. He gingerly picked the fragment up and placed it in his jacket pocket. Apparently spending the day in Doumeki's pocket had purified the nasty aura clinging to the battered bit of ceramic, because it just felt like a lump of dry clay.

He made his way out of the school, nervously watching for any sign of cat death. So far, so good. He glanced up. The afternoon was overcast with faint clouds and the moon could be seen on the horizon, full and pale in the sky.

A full moon. Not good. His weird life tended to get much weirder on nights of the full moon.

"Groceries!" he said out loud. Ick, he still didn't want to deal with food. "Something vegetarian tonight…" That sounded better. "Maybe some _paneer_ with almonds… Chai, a bit of _naan…_ Where's an Indian grocer around here...?" He managed to become absorbed in his menu, planning what to feed his unpredictable employer tonight.

He found a small deli near the green grocer that specialized in foreign cuisine. Kimihiro made his selections distractedly and when he was paying for the groceries out of Yuuko-san's allowance, he couldn't help but stare at the large lucky cat statue settled solidly next to the cash register. Its gold paint was a little worn, but it was in excellent condition otherwise.

The clerk noticed him staring at it. "Oh, you've heard about the thefts?"

Kimihiro started and looked at her directly. "Excuse me?"

The older woman sighed as she counted out his change. "The lucky cat burglaries. Several businesses in the area were hit last night." She shut the cash drawer aggressively and looked at the golden cat on her counter. "The only thing stolen was each business' _maneki neko_. It's a very strange thing, because there were much more valuable items to take."

"Oh, that's very odd," he said politely. Yuuko-san's _hitsuzen_ again. Why did he have to find the shop with the talkative cashier? He didn't want to know these things, but he could feel a great deal of pity for the bold cat sitting on the counter.

The lucky cat blinked at him and it's gaze shifted to the pocket that held the paw.

He managed to exit the store without running, feeling the cat's golden eyes on him the entire time. "I don't want to know what can skin a cat spirit. I don't want to _meet_ what can skin a cat spirit," he mumbled.

Kimihiro tripped over something on the sidewalk and fell with a _screech. _He managed to save his groceries at the cost of banging his knee on the sidewalk. "DAMN IT." He sat awkwardly in the middle of the walkway, clutching at his bruised knee. Wincing, he found the thing he had fallen over.

It was a small black cat no larger than a softball. It _meowed_ at him conversationally, a golden medallion shining bravely from the red collar around its neck.

"Oh, _hell_, no."

The cat _meowed_ again and climbed onto his sore knee, which he had pulled against his chest, and touched his nose gently with its own. Kimihiro found the feather-light weight of the cat something of a nuisance on his hurt knee, so he carefully scooped it up in one of his hands.

"You're a _maneki neko,_ right?" The cat nodded patiently. "And you're here, why?" The feline looked at his pocket, just as patiently. "I was really afraid of that." It purred.

Kimihiro stood, suppressing a groan as his knee twinged. The cat climbed up his arm and wrapped itself around his neck. _Just what I needed, another boa._ _At least it's a different color,_ he thought cynically. He managed to flex his knee and began to hobble.

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To be continued…

Reviewers:

Larania Drake, JWM, Tatsumaki: Thank you for reviewing. I'll be putting more up, but it will be a week or two. I'm going to be out of town, so please be patient.

Violent Tomboy: Actually, Watanuki's first name really _is _Kimihiro. Japanese usually call each other by their surnames; only family and very intimate friends address each other by their personal names.

MmindloveM: Please read the guidelines on my profile page for in-depth critiques. I'm not familiar with Rurouni Kenshin, so I wouldn't be very useful for your story. Thank you for the review.

Spellcaster Hikaru: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. As for Yuuko, don't worry: she'll be in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Cat Skin

a xxxHOLiC fanfiction by Wyrdley

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Notes: PG-13 for violence and language. Release date – September 14, 2005.

Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHOLiC, but I do own any original characters that may appear in this story. Please read the original books by CLAMP, because they _rock_.

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Part 3

Yuuko-san was lounging on the veranda when he arrived at the store, clad in a gorgeous turquoise _sari_ trimmed with gold and a deep raspberry color. Kimihiro's grip tightened on his bag of Indian groceries. It _really _weirded him out when she did things like that. He was pretty sure the fortuneteller did it on purpose, too.

"Good afternoon," he said, as the energetic duo of Maru and Moro materialized to take his bags. The two girls chirped:

"Watanuki is here! Welcome back!"

"Welcome back!"

Watanuki ignored them as they raced off to the kitchen. "Yuuko-san, I would like to ask you about something…"

Yuuko-san smiled at him from her comfortable position on the porch. "By all means." A few delicate _bindi_ glinted from under her eyes and she released a gentle puff of smoke. "Please step up, Watanuki. Don't be a stranger—have a seat." Mokona was snoozing on her lap.

Kimihiro realized than he had been standing in the yard like a garden gnome and sat down, pulling his short boots off, his knee complaining. He could feel the cat clutching at his shoulders as his balance changed. He fumbled in his coat pocket for a second and extended the small bit of statue out towards the witch. "Doumeki and I discovered this on the way to school today."

Yuuko-san's face became thoughtful as she carefully unwrapped it. She glanced at him after a moment. "Oh, you brought a customer with you." Her red eyes focused on the black lucky cat. "I didn't notice you, little one."

Kimihiro blinked. "Huh? How could you not notice, I mean, it's the same color as my clothes, but—" Doumeki hadn't seen the bodies, which was understandable, but how could someone like Yuuko-san not notice a magical creature like a lucky cat?

The cat jumped down from his shoulders and landed on the porch next to Yuuko-san, its golden medallion glinting. Yuuko-san smiled at it gravely, laying the broken cat's paw aside gently. "This small one is in a great deal of danger right now, so she's been concealing herself." The cat nodded. "I had heard a rumor that something has been collecting the pelts of _maneki neko_ a few days ago, but this is the first I've seen any proof of it."

Kimihiro stared at the small cat. "I found some bodies. They were—" He shivered. "Poisonous. That Doumeki"—he frowned at this—"actually recovered that piece from one of the sites. He couldn't sense anything at all."

Yuuko-san smirked. "Doumeki-kun? Did he walk you to school today?"

Kimihiro's temperature soared. "What's that supposed to mean? We ran into each other on the way! I have no wish to walk _anywhere_ with a _jerk_ like him!" He scowled at the thought.

"And yet, he was able to find this thing and pass it on to you," she said, gesturing to the paw. "It's not a coincidence, Watanuki."

The cat _meowed_ in agreement. Kimihiro huffed sulkily.

"In any case, this little one has a request," the witch said matter-of-factly. "Do you need someone to stop the one responsible for the slaying of your brethren?"

Kimihiro started, a foreboding lump materializing in his stomach. "No, hold on—" His protest was cut off as the cat actually bowed, then abruptly jumped up to Kimihiro's lap, kneading at his leg. The boy reflexively steadied it with his hand and it—she—leaned into his touch, rubbing her face possessively against his palm. "She wants _me_ to do it?"

Yuuko-san grinned, and puffed on her pipe. "This is a very expensive wish, little one." She let out a tendril of silver smoke. "I need your collar in exchange."

The cat became completely still against his hand, then slowly nodded, her golden green eyes closing. Yuuko-san reached down and carefully unfastened the collar from around the lucky cat's neck. Kimihiro's eyes flew open as the cat's body pulsed in his grip, then became still. "Huh? What happened?" The cat drooped on his lap, then tipped over. She would have hit the ground if his hand hadn't been resting gently on her back. Kimihiro cradled the senseless creature against his chest, his wide blue eyes fastening onto Yuuko-san's grave expression.

"Her collar was part of her power. She's less than she used to be. You'll have to be very cautious with her, because I doubt that she can hide herself the way she used to." The witch handed the collar to Moro, who scampered off with it, Maru in her wake. "I'm sure she'll wake up soon, and when she does, you'll be on your way with her." Yuuko-san's hand slid over the small feline's soft pelt, then carefully lifted her from Kimihiro's grip and laid her next to the snoozing Mokona.

Kimihiro touched the warm spot on the front of his coat. It was directly over his heart.

It was a bit later in the evening when Yuuko-san pulled him away from his chores. After removing the lucky cat's bright collar, she had sent him to the kitchen to prepare dinner, which Yuuko-san lingered over appreciatively when he served it to her. He hadn't done much in the way of heavy labor; his sore knee was actually becoming more of a nuisance instead of less than one.

Mokona bounded onto his shoulder just as he was placing the last of the dishes away. "Mokona is here to fetch Watanuki!" The black puffball hopped in place and twirled, the blue stone in his forehead glittering.

Hunching over the counter, Kimihiro removed his apron and kerchief, carefully folding them away. He walked stiffly to Yuuko-san's sitting room, where she was resting on her divan. The lucky cat was perched on the arm of the chair, but leapt off as soon as she saw Kimihiro, planting herself in front of him. He bent and reached out a hand, which the tiny cat stepped onto like a queen.

"What am I doing, exactly?"

Yuuko-san peered at him slyly. "First, you need an exorcist."

Kimihiro nearly threw the cat as his mood catapulted from "dread" to "aggrieved." "WHAT? WHY DOES HE NEED TO COME?"

Yuuko-san exhaled a tendril of smoke. "Listen up, I have a few things you need to know…"

xXx

The sun was starting to set when Shizuka heard the doorbell ring. "I'll get it," he called as he padded through the hall, his _hakama_ making a _swif swif_ sound. He passed the living room, where his mother was reclining on the floor, watching the television. She turned her eyes to him briefly, then re-focused on whatever scandal the person on the news was blathering on about.

His father was out. Shizuka preferred it that way, especially of late. The man was too eager to discuss his future these days and, though he never said it outright, he had hinted that Shizuka was becoming just a tad too involved with certain people. He wanted his son to have a sterling reputation and Shizuka's recent penchant for mysterious injuries was just a tad suspicious.

Shizuka didn't care much about other people's opinions, but his father's were a bit hard to ignore at times. For now, avoidance was fine. He could deal with the rest later.

He opened the door and there was the idiot, scowling in the failing light. He had a lump of something on his shoulder and his arms were crossed at his chest. Shizuka watched a puff of vapor appear at his mouth.

The lump blinked and stretched, resolving itself into a cat as black as Watanuki's hair. Its eyes were same shape as Watanuki's, too. Shizuka stared at the creature for a moment.

"You have a _maneki neko_ on your shoulder. Explain."

Watanuki's face contorted as if he was chewing on something bitter. "Get your bow. And arrows. This cat is Yuuko-san's customer—"

"Hm," Shizuka grunted. "Bow? And arrows? Sounds a little more dangerous than what Yuuko-san usually has you do." He stepped back and let Watanuki and the cat into the entryway, then stepped up to the closest to grab a _happi_ jacket.It looked a bit cold outside. He toed on his sandals, and walked out the door. "What are we doing exactly?" He wanted to be off the temple grounds before his father came home—which reminded him: "I'm going out, mother," he called back into the house.

He heard the faint _"Come back safely"_ as he shut the front door. He ignored the suddenly blank face that Watanuki was wearing and marched briskly around the front of the house towards the temple. Watanuki trailed behind him, quiet.

"Well?"

"Huh?" the smaller boy said intelligently. "Oh, uh, the job. Yuuko-san needs us to find out what's been hunting the lucky cats in the area." He hurried to keep pace with Shizuka, who liked to make the twerp work a bit.

"What else?" He approached the side entrance to the temple, which led to a small storage room that held his bow and practice target, amongst other things.

"What do you mean, 'what else?'" Watanuki snapped as Shizuka unlocked the door. "Like she ever tells me anything!"

Shizuka didn't respond to this, stepping out of his shoes and entering the temple. He heard Watanuki fumbling with his boots, then felt the floor vibrate with the force of his stomping gait.

The cat hissed and both boys froze. Shizuka turned to look at Watanuki, who was silhouetted in the doorway, the cat facing off to the side—

Watanuki lurched sideways and fell out of sight outside the doorway. Shizuka flew out the door, where he saw Watanuki scrabbling against something the size of a motorcycle that just wavered on the edge of Shizuka's vision. It had him pinned to the porch and he was holding his arm up, like he was warding something away.

Shizuka tackled the whatever-it-was, wrapping his arms around it and squeezing. He felt the thing turn on him and was knocked back, rolling to his knees.

The thing was a bit clearer now, but the sun was completely set now and the moon's light was on the other side of the temple. It seemed something like a wolf, but maybe with the head of a boar. Its eyes were the only thing he could really understand: the murderous glint as it pawed the ground made that all too clear.

Watanuki was flat on his back behind the thing, but he was conscious; Shizuka could hear the boy groaning. "Get my bow! It's in the first room as you go in!"

The monster charged and Shizuka dodged out of its way, spinning to kick it in the side as it passed by him. It snorted and Shizuka could see a wisp of shimmering air graze its side where he had hit it.

Useful. Shizuka backed up a few paces and grabbed one of his sandals, then hurled it as hard as he could at that black gaze. It erupted like a tornado as it impacted the thing's eye and a jet of white air glowed out of the hit. The thing shrieked and shook its head, staggering.

Shizuka picked up his other sandal and was about to throw it when Watanuki banged into him from behind. Shizuka lurched, unbalanced, and the thing charged again. He found himself flying to one side as Watanuki pushed him out of the way, straightening just in time to see Watanuki being slammed up against the porch, an unstrung bow falling from his grip.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

To be continued…

Reviewers:

Spellcaster Hikaru: Not much of Yuuko here, and she's a bit subdued. She'll show up again later, but for now, this is Watanuki and Doumeki's show. Hope you like.

JWM: I have a note posted about lucky cats posted at the end of the first chapter now, as well a few links listed on my profile page.

Laurus Nobilis: I'm so happy you like this!Update "Blend" again soon!

Tatsumaki, Karma826645, Samthegreat: I'm so glad you're enjoying the story! I'm aiming for 12 parts, so stick with it.

TheViolentTomboy, Hakunamatata: I have a note posted about why Watanuki was annoyed by Yuuko calling him "Watanuki" instead of "Watanuki-kun." Please read it. Also, please look at the link I have posted about Japanese names on my profile page. I know the links are broken, but the entire web address is there, so you can paste it into your web browser. If you're going to read manga, knowing a bit about how Japanese refer to each other and the significance of those references will give you a great deal more insight into the interpersonal relationships of the characters. Hakunamatata - I'm not going to continue or respond to anymore comments about Watanuki's surname. I actually read the manga in Japanese, so telling me that Watanuki isn't his surname is like telling me that water isn't wet. Please do the research. No hard feelings, but this point has made me irritable from slapping myself in-between the eyes in disbelief.


	4. Chapter 4

Cat Skin

a xxxHOLiC fanfiction by Wyrdley

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Notes: PG-13 for violence and language. Release date – September 20, 2005. This one is a little short, I'm afraid, but things will begin moving along quickly in the next part.

Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHOLiC, but I do own any original characters that may appear in this story. Please read the original books by CLAMP, because they _rock_.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Part 4

Shizuka felt his raised pulse skip as he dove for the fallen bow. As he saw the monster paw roughly at a limp Watanuki, he forced the end of the bow into the cool ground, fumbling for the string coiled neatly on the tip. The archer pulled it loose and flexed the weapon, and the thing's mouth opened, revealing both porcine tusks and lupine fangs—

The lucky cat shot out of a shadow and drove needle-fine claws into the beast's uninjured eye, hissing as it tore into the malevolent flesh. The monster squealed and batted at its own head as it tried to shake the feline free. Shizuka fitted the string to his bow and raised it to his cheek.

The cat noticed this and leaped free of the thing's head—

—and landed on Shizuka's left hand, its claws piercing the skin. Letting out a curse, Shizuka's grip on the bow failed and the tensed weapon rebounded towards his face, striking him on the side of his head. He fell backwards onto his back, shaking the damned cat away. It scrambled away, where to, Shizuka didn't care, but _he_ was personally going to rip its hide off himself when he had a moment.

Wincing, he stood up and aimed his bow again—

The creature was gone. Watanuki was moaning on the edge of the porch and rubbing his arm; Shizuka spun and scanned the dark grounds of the temple with his keen eyes and caught just the slightest bit of movement at the gate. The monster was dragging itself away in an unsteady line, unable to see well out of its damaged eyes. Lips pressed together grimly, Shizuka pulled on the string.

And the damned cat bit his ankle. Hard. Shizuka dropped his stance and kicked it aside. "What the hell are you doing?" The monster vanished from view and the cat, unaffected by Shizuka's abuse, scampered after it. When it realized neither Shizuka nor Watanuki was following it, the cat stopped and hissed at them.

Shizuka ignored it and turned his attention to Watanuki. The idiot was slouched on the ground and peering around, obviously dazed. The archer didn't like the way he was favoring his left arm and knelt next to him, staring at his eyes to see if they were dilated.

Watanuki's pupils seemed fine, but his eyes revealed that he hurt. "Hey, anything broken?"

Those blue eyes slowly turned in his direction, not glaring for once. "Don't think so, but it feels like that thing tried to use my arm to floss its teeth." He shivered as Shizuka's hand reflexively touched him arm. "Bastard! Don't _do_ that." Watanuki moved away from him and did his best to stand up straight. He leaned against one of the porch's supports, his clouded eyes becoming annoyed slits. "It'll be fine. Did you get that thing?"

The cat hissed at them and twirled in place, impatiently. Shizuka let his face become expressionless as he regarded the damnable creature. "The cat stopped me. It escaped." His left hand twinged as it gripped the bow murderously.

"Huh? _Why?_" Watanuki's voice lost its irritation in his shock. "I thought you wanted us to catch the thing that was hunting the lucky cats down!" he cried out to the cat. The cat nodded, then moved towards the gate, peering over its shoulder. "I don't get it," the boy mumbled, then stumbled towards the cat, then stopping as he realized he had taken his shoes off.

The archer thought a moment. "The cat wants us to track that thing," Shizuka said, "to wherever its den is." He stepped back up to the temple to fetch his arrows. "Find my sandals, idiot."

"_WHAT?"_

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

It didn't take long for the boys to find the creature's trail again. It was moving so slowly that the cat had stopped in its tracks so abruptly when they caught up to it that Shizuka nearly tripped over the thing. They had been creeping cautiously after it ever since, not speaking to each other. Shizuka could feel a bruise developing on his face from where his bow had hit him.

School was going to be interesting tomorrow. He wondered what sort of rumors would erupt when both he and Watanuki came to school with their various bumps and bruises.

He wondered what his father would say. Shizuka had never revealed his exorcistic abilities to the man, simply because he didn't want to shame him. His father hadn't inherited the ability to turn away evil spirits and had always seemed somewhat insecure about it. Shizuka knew that it pained the man to perform temple services—he wondered if it was because he felt like a fraud.

Would his father be proud of the fact that Shizuka used his abilities to protect Watanuki? Or would he feel threatened by it? Shizuka wasn't sure. The man tended to condescend to people with spiritual gifts without really noticing he was doing it.

Shizuka put the thought aside and listened to Watanuki breathing harshly next to him. The idiot was limping and a few beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. Shizuka had been so focused on the smaller boy's arm, he hadn't really noticed he was moving with an uneven gait.

He stopped walking. The cat glanced at him curiously and Watanuki staggered to a halt. "What's wrong?" Watanuki asked.

"Your leg. When did it get hurt?"

"Oh, I tripped over the cat when I first found her. I banged my knee on the ground."

Shizuka wondered why it was called a "lucky cat." "Do you need to come? If we run into another one of those things—"

"_I'll be fine._" Watanuki's blue eyes scowled at Shizuka stubbornly. "My presence was part of the lucky cat's bargain with Yuuko-san. Lay off." He began walking again, forcing his sore knee to support his weight.

"Idiot."

"Shut your hole. Why should you care? Just make sure you don't miss when you shoot."

So Shizuka shut up, but he kept a close watch on Watanuki. The ungrateful jerk.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

To be continued…

Reviewers:

Akabeko: Heh. I checked out your website. Loved the rant on Fangirl Japanese. I was very entertained.

Spellcaster Hikaru: Well, Fei Wang doesn't figure into this fic at all. If you think the little piggie-thingy was creepy, you're gonna love what's coming next. As for Watanuki's relationship to Clow, you should check out both Laurus Nobilis and Hiragizawa's livejournals. They're both huge Clow fans.

The Violent Tomboy: It's okay.

SilverShiningStar: Glad you like. I try to update about once a week, so keep tuned in.

Laurus Nobilis: Thanks for the kudos. I try to writeaction sequenceslike they're going to be made into a movie, so I try to keep the action as simple and clear as possible, without going overboard. The effects of the cat's price will become clearer later on.

Korie: Thank you for the review! I've been researching a bunch of different things for this series... Just you wait. I've already got a few more stories in the planning stages. And, no, Watanuki is not an archer. I hope this part made that clear.


	5. Chapter 5

Cat Skin

a xxxHOLiC fanfiction by Wyrdley

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Notes: PG-13 for violence and language. Release date – October 10, 2005.

Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHOLiC, but I do own any original characters that may appear in this story. Please read the original books by CLAMP, because they _rock_.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Part 5

In a strange space that wasn't quite part of the city, the witch of dimension smoked her pipe on the porch of her peculiar home. Her charges, Maru and Moro, played in the yard under the light of the veiled moon, laughing and chasing, angel wings pursuing devil wings, then devil wings charging angelic. Yuuko blew smoke serenely, while Larg sipped on an enormous root beer float with two straws.

The boys were in for an interesting time. She laid down her pipe and lifted the float, sipping out of the second straw. _The things we do for love,_ she thought absently. _Human and inhuman._

Even at the cost of lives. Even at the cost of hate.

Even if the cost was total disaster…

Yuuko had faith that Watanuki and the young priest would be able to stop the deaths of the _maneki__ neko._ If they couldn't, then it was entirely possible that the entire ward would fall into misfortune with its small and unnoticed guardians gone. It was difficult, imagining those children's homes becoming part of a slum.

A shop had luck. A home had luck. A neighborhood, a city, a nation… All of these things had luck. The _maneki__ neko_ were not the bringers of good fortune, but the symptom of it. They enhanced the ordinary fortunes of those who cherished them. They destroyed the small and malicious things that fed on the misery of others; it would be like the great plagues of Europe centuries ago, when the cats that hunted the rats that carried the fleas that carried the disease were burned because the humans of time feared they were witches' familiars.

The dark ages were past, but even dark ages start somewhere.

The witch of dimensions grinned, thinking of a very immature witchchild carrying a cat across his shoulders. He despised his heritage; she hoped that he was beginning to understand what it was, even if he didn't exactly _know_ what it was.

He wanted to lay it aside. Clow had tried, but _he_ was a magician, a human force of nature, not a witch, who simply bargained with nature. The differences were more philosophical than anything else, but the philosophies in question shaped the course of lives and were nearly impossible to change. Yuuko would do her best for the boy and let him make up his own mind. Maybe he would stop hating himself so much.

She watched the moon and how her breath wafted away in the breeze. The one who was harvesting the cats didn't care about the mortal humans the cats watched over. _That one_ probably didn't care much about what any creature thought, which was ironic, considering the reason behind the skinnings.

_Love, and the hope of love, makes us so stupid,_ she thought fondly, placing the float down on the porch, where Larg was resting.

"Yuuko is very quiet," he said, using one black paw to clutch at the glass. He opened one eye, examining the level of ice cream and root beer. "Is Yuuko worried about Watanuki and Doumeki?"

The witch tipped her head, then stroked one silky ear through her fingers, touching the charm on Larg's earring thoughtfully. "A little. This particular job is really going to test their mettle. It will give Doumeki-kun a chance to live up to his name, too."

"Mokona thinks that Yuuko might need to go, too." The magical creature suddenly downed the rest of the drink in one loud, noisy slurp.

Yuuko thought of the boys and what they didn't know. Watanuki might be angry enough with her after this job to forbid her from drinking. One of these days, his words might actually become powerful enough to make her obey, especially if he they were evoked in a moment of passion. His powers were so erratic…

It would be a crucial point, and she had no desire to lose her booze when it came.

"Let's give them a little bit of time, first, my wondrous Mokona," she temporized, standing up, her silk falling in gentle ripples. "The first part of this task is easy, after all."

xXx

The moon was high overhead when the cat stopped leading them. Kimihiro lurched to a halt, trying to keep his heavy breaths from being too noisy. He knew that Doumeki wouldn't keep him from the task, but at the same time, he didn't want to oaf distracted from more important things.

His arm ached, a mass of bruises. The creature had been after the lucky cat on his shoulder, not him, which was probably the only reason he was still alive. It had treated Kimihiro like a roadblock, just plowing through him without caring that he was there or not. His knee, which had just been sore, had been wrenched when it had knocked him over. Both arm and leg were occupying more of his attention than he liked.

The monster was crawling now, dragging itself towards an empty lot. It was mostly dirt and concrete, with the treads of a bulldozer making odd trails and crisscrosses. There was a chain link fence surrounding the entire area with a sign posted: "No Trespassing." Kimihiro watched the porcine creature pull itself through a trench that ran underneath the fence.

The air rippled and the beast vanished like it had never existed. Kimihiro saw Doumeki frown and run his hands up the shaft of his bow absently. "Where did it go?"

Kimihiro squinted through his glasses and cautiously limped to the hole under the fence. "It disappeared when it went through this pit, here." He touched the links warily.

A force of energy pushed him away harshly and threw him to the ground. Doumeki was at his side immediately, an arrow fitted to his bow and half-cocked, pointing at the fence. Watanuki pulled himself into a sitting position, the lucky cat inching into the hollow of his hip, the hair on her spine hackling.

"A barrier?" the exorcist whispered curtly.

"Yeah…" Kimihiro tried to _see_ beyond the fence, hoping to detect something, anything about the site beyond the fence. He stood and approached the chain links slowly, his right hand feeling ahead of him gingerly. The cat was following so closely, he could feel her tail fluttering in and out of the bottom of his pant leg, occasionally bumping his ankle. Doumeki held still, his bow ready.

Kimihiro didn't touch the fence this time, but held his fingers just shy of its links. There was a pulse there, he realized, not warm or cold, but very much like a gust of wind breathing against a heavy curtain. He lowered himself to the ground and laid on his side so that he could look through the trench.

His eyes widened and he felt all the blood drain from his head.

Beyond the rusting chain links stood a building. It hunched on the ravaged ground ungracefully, its shape an inelegant conglomeration of rough boards and thatch. Kimihiro recognized it as a hut, but it was a hut the size of a barn. He must have gasped, because Doumeki crowded behind him instantly. "Th-there's a house on the other side." He shoved the archer out of his way and backed up a few paces, his heart slamming into his ribs.

Doumeki laid down his bow and hugged the ground, the long sleeves of his _happi_ jacket and the legs of his _hakama_ dragging into the churned earth. He tilted into the hole and held still for a long moment, then began to slide under the fence. _"What the hell do you think you're doing?"_ Kimihiro hissed.

Doumeki's feet vanished and then he reached his arm back. "Give me my bow."

"Are you nuts?"

"This is the job, right? That thing went to that house." Doumeki's voice was muffled, but his stark tone was all business.

"Did you see the size of the door? Moron, some giant lives in that hovel! Do you want to get eaten or something?"

"Not really. Are you going to sit and bellow at a hole in the ground all night? Someone might have you picked up for idiocy."

Kimihiro seethed, but the lucky cat slinked into the trench and disappeared. He couldn't see either cat or suicidal jerk on the other side of the links and felt his scowl fade into a nervous tick in his jaw. He stared around himself, taking in the deserted surroundings.

He shivered and knelt to crawl through the hole.

xXx

To be continued…

Reviewers:

Thank you to everyone who has left reviews! I'm glad you're all enjoying this story so much. I wish I had more time to work on it, but I have a few other projects competing for my free moments.

To address a few things:

There is definitely more going on than is apparent, which I'm sure this part helped show. Yuuko knows more than she tells.

The new volumes of both xxxHOLiC and TRC will be released on October 25. For those who wait for the English releases, volume six of HOLiC is going to rock your socks.

Volume seven, due out next May/April? It's gonna make your head go _boom._


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